Utility Companies / Hospital / Mexico

I am a very light sleeper and the sound of heavy-duty trucks woke me at 7:21 a.m this past Wednesday.  It went on and on, so got up to check what was triggering this noise.  There were three electric company vehicles parked two lots down working on the transformer.

They left and I went back to sleep, only to be rudely awakened once more by the sound of machinery breaking the pavement...WTH?  It was not the Water Department but the Waste Water Department making repairs in the corner and once again closing off the street to traffic.

Gave up and got up when one of mother's friends called to ask if I could drive her to Ciudad Acuña. Her sister had been hospitalized the night before and she had just been notified.  She is a very sweet lady who like the majority of mother's friends, is a widow who lives by herself. Her children left Del Rio as soon as they could (kind of like myself) so she has no other family in town.

Was getting ready when the darn electricity went out.  What the heck is going on with the local utility companies lately and why our street? Lucky for us it came back after thirty minutes.

Mexico has socialized medicine, while it is not perfect it's better than not having insurance.  If you are a federal employee you are covered by the ISSSTE, if you work in the private sector you are covered by IMSS.

This ladies sister is a retired school teacher and in Mexico, school teachers are considered federal employees. I had not been to the ISSSTE installations in a long time.  They are building an addition to add more hospital rooms but it is still lacking in many respects.  I judge a hospital or doctor's office by the ease of access for a handicap person.  There were steps to climb to get in the front door and no hand rails, there was no wheelchair ramp...things you expect a hospital to have. Their public restrooms did not have the basics like toilet paper, soap and paper towels...sure hope the nurses and hospital staff have better facilities!

Hospital Ejeza, one of three private hospitals in Ciudad Acuña, has also undergone a remodel and it has and continues to be the premiere hospital in that city. When my father was alive he underwent surgery here as the cost was less than half of what it would have been in Del Rio. Many US citizens choose to be operated at this facility and Texas license plates far outnumber the Coahuila ones in the parking lot.

Hospital Ejeza is closer to mother's house than Val Verde Regional Medical Center (only hospital in Val Verde County) and in case I ever have a need for emergency medical attention...I plan to drive myself here.

The ISSSTE facilities are close to Bodega Aurrera (grocery store owned by Walmart) it is a small facility in comparison to their large installation on the north side of town.  While I did not buy a lot of things...I did save more than enough money to cover the cost of tolls and then some...you know how much I love bargains :-)

They borrowed a page from my favorite grocery store Gutierrez and put up shade canopies, which are a big plus in particular during the very hot summer months.

Across the street from Bodega Aurrera is another grocery store...Merco, the only grocery store in Ciudad Acuña when we moved to this border town.

Was glad to see that the dollar to peso ratio has gone down. This gives Mexican citizens the ability to purchase dollars at a better rate and come spend them in the United States. I apologize for the poor picture quality. You can click on it to expand it and see the exchange rate on the right side of the picture.

$19.30 Mexican Pesos to one US dollar - Compra
$19.70 Mexican Pesos to purchase one US dollar - Venta

The return to the USA was a breeze. I got in the lane with the least traffic, knowing fully well that the reason for this was probably due to a female agent manning the booth.  Had to pop my trunk open so she could examine my ice chest but it was no big deal, cleared customs in less than three minutes.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

January 2014 trip to Mexico

For once I was not down to my last pill before I made a mad dash to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Two of mother's appointments were re-scheduled by her doctors so decided to make use of that time slot. In a way I was glad for the cancellations as I did not want to take my mother out in this weather. It has been pretty darn cold especially this past Tuesday.

Of course I would choose to go to Mexico on the coldest day thus far this year!  For those new to my blog I like to go to Ciudad Acuña on Monday or Tuesday as the crowds at the grocery stores as well as the lines to cross are not as bad as on other days of the week.

I shopped at three stores today Aurrera, Merco and Gutierrez.  Tuesday also happens to be "Martes de Frutas y Verduras"  which translates to "Tuesday of Fruits and Vegetables".  On this day they offer those items at a reduced price.  While you would not know it by looking at me...yes, I eat a lot of vegetables....jajajaja :D

Mother likes B Hermanos a store that sells quality leather shoes.  The two other stores of this chain are located in the downtown tourist area and are not handicap friendly and parking is a problem.  This one in the suburbs must of opened recently as I did not see it last time we were in Ciudad Acuña. It has handicap as well as free parking unlike the ones at the other two locations which have parking meters.

The Mexican Peso has been weak against the US dollar since December.  Last week it reached an all time high of $13.51 at the banks but much higher at the Exchange houses along the border per the Mexican news media.  Even at today's rate it is still high.

The lines to cross back to the US were longer than I had anticipated for this cold day but even at that it was only a 15 minute wait.  Got a nice looking polite young officer who quickly sent me on my way.

It is always nice to see this sign when you cross back home.

The vehicles you see in the background are in line
 for inspection as commercial  transportation.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Last 2012 Trip to Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico

You would not know it from looking at my skinny cousin, but he can and does eat like a horse :-)  In a week he ate us out of groceries that last mother and I for a month. Had been wanting to go back to Mexico to re-stock for a couple of days now but I had been feeling a little under the weather until today. Been fighting a cough and sniffles with aspirin and NyQuil and hopefully I wont come down with a cold.

I get an e-mail at least once a week asking me if Ciudad Acuna is safe to visit.  I guess it all depends on what your perception of safe is.  My parents, friends and relatives were horrified when I announced 30 plus years ago that I was moving to Houston, Texas.  They considered it to be a very dangerous city and thought I had lost my mind.  Many people still wonder why I continue to live there.  Is Houston safe?  It is all a matter of perception...the same applies to Ciudad Acuna.

All I can tell you is that it is the safest border in Texas and that is not just me saying it, but many other sources, do a google search.  One thing for certain if it was not safe I would never take my mother with me or put myself in harms way.

I figured with Christmas over and done with, there would not be that many shopper out and about...but I was wrong.  There were tons of people and happy to say many American tourists in the bunch :)  Even ran into the guy that runs the computer system at the Val Verde County Library in Del Rio.  He was surprised to see me in Aurrera and asked if I shopped there often, told him I did and he said his family and him did as well.

Aurrera is located inside of Plaza Bella mall

With so many people shopping at Aurrera they were out of a lot of fruits and vegetables which are my mother's favorites so we also paid a visit to Merco.

Both Aurrera and Merco are located along Libramiento Emilio Mendoza Cisneros which is a fast growing section in Ciudad Acuna close to the Maquiladoras and to the new housing sub-divisions called Colonias for the maquiladora employees.  Even El Palacio Municipal (the equivalent of our City Hall) built state of the art installations and moved out of the central downtown area to this new location.

El Palacio Municipal de Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico.
They have free internet within their perimeters.

Guess I am so busy driving I had never noticed El Palacio Municipal had so many palm trees

If anyone is looking for a pinata for their New Year's party there are plenty to be had here.

The exchange rates have fallen some from last week.  The going rate today was 12.40 pesos to buy dollars, 12.95 pesos to sell them.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Trip to Mexico

It has been a while since our last trip to Mexico.  I avoid going the last week of November, all of December and the first six days in January.  It is at these times when more people cross at both sides of the border and the traffic congestions can easily rival Houston rush hour traffic.

With the above exceptions we tend to go every month or so.  From my mother’s house going to Mexico is closer than going to Lake Amistad.  For those not familiar with Texas, Del Rio is a border town across from Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico.

Many people cross the border to buy groceries, medication, liquor, and cigarettes.  Others visit the hairdresser, barbershops, dentist, optometrist or doctor since these products and services are much cheaper in Mexico.  The peso has not been doing well against the dollar so your US buck goes a lot farther at this time.  Thursday the exchange rate was 13.05 Mexican Pesos to sell dollars and 13.55 Mexican Pesos to buy dollars.

This particular day (Thursday) we went to buy groceries.  By groceries I mean fruits, vegetables, pasta, fresh fish, meat, beans, lentils, rice, candy, cookies and my mom’s favorite freshly baked sweet bread.

  

Ciudad Acuna better known as Acuna has a population of about 135,000 and is one of the few remaining “safe” borders along the Rio Grande.  It cost $3.00 USD to cross to Mexico and $25.00 Mexican Pesos to cross back to the USA.

The toll booths to cross into Mexico.  Notice black wrought iron fence, that is part of the Border Fence, will do a future post on it.

View after paying your toll.

About to enter Mexico

Main street after passing Mexican customs

Main street, there are a lot of bars and curio shops but this is around their siesta time so not much movement.

There are four major grocery stores Gutierrez, Merco, Soriana and newcomer Bodegas Aurrera (owned by Walmart).  Depending on what’s on sale we might hit all four of them but on this day we only went to Bodegas Aurrera and Merco.  I swung by Soriana to take a picture and also to check out the dollar exchange rates.  There is an exchange house adjacent to it that has the best rates that we have found so far while still being in a safe location.

We had no problems crossing back, only had to open my trunk after I declared all that I brought back and he simply looked in my cooler and send us on our way.